Koningsdag 2015!

The Durneys celebrated their first Koningsdag on Monday, April 27th! This is the celebration of the birthday of the King and the largest national holiday in the Netherlands.  Last year was the first Koningsdag after King Willem-Alexander took over the throne after his mother, Queen Beatrix abdicated. She was the longest reigning monarch in the Netherlands and ruled for 33 years. Her "Queens day," was celebrated on April 30th, the birthday of her mother. On King's Day, the population of Amsterdam reportedly doubled from 800,000 to close to 1.5 million as nationals and visitors alike swarmed the city for the carnival-like atmosphere. 

With the "King's Night" partying the evening before King's day, I have to say that the whole thing felt a little like Christmas. Lots of anticipation and excitement about what the holiday would be like. Rain had been forecasted all week and the day before was plenty grey and cloudy so we were overjoyed when we awoke to beautiful blue skies. 

It started out innocently enough. We were up early with Jude (what's new) and so we took advantage of the early part of the day, which is when all of the Netherlands becomes a giant flea market or vrijmarkt ("free market"). Centered around children, young and old alike mark their selling territory with sidewalk chalk and duct tape weeks in advance of the day. The street around the corner from our apartment was the heart of the Amstelveen vrijmarkt and kids were lined up for over a mile selling their old clothes and toys. Kids also set up carnival like games, sell coffee, tea and baked goods and perform for money. Vondelpark in the city is the mecca for the child-run vrijmarkt (in fact, only children are allowed to sell in the park and it is strictly regulated). As much as we wanted to see the action in the park, the allure of our neighbor's son performing Michael Jackson moves for money was enough to keep us in Amstelveen for the morning. Kid had a mean moonwalk! 

Showing off the orange Kermie shirts made by Jon and Chris on our balcony overlooking Amstelveen's vrijmarkt

I was trying to capture the kid DJing in front of his house with professional turn tables.

Come and kick some ballen!

I was seriously tempted by this manicure station... 

"Long live the King," the Happy Birthday mantra on our local bakery's window

We made out great at the vrijmarkt and are now the proud owners of matching hot pink baby chairs, a drum set, new books, puppets, shoes, champagne glasses, and a Connexion bus! 15 Euro well spent!

The day was off to a great start! Something about getting a bargain really puts you in the mood to celebrate! With the gang all assembled and sporting our Kermie shirts, we hopped on bikes to cycle into the city. Buses were running, but we worried about the crowds. Paul and Andrea hosted us for a rooftop BBQ to escape the busyness of the streets below. 

After lunch, we walked into the canal ring to take in the orange hued scene. The idea of having Jude in crowds was not appealing, but we felt we needed to see the party. Yes, it was crowded, but having come from NYC and witnessed the Halloween parade, lighting of the Rockefeller Christmas tree and Times Square on NYE, it was totally manageable.

We made it as far as Prinsengracht and found a spot canal-side to watch the drunken boat parade. Entertainment value here was very high! It would have been higher if we had seen a drunko fall into the canal, but there is always next year!.

It was pointed out to me that this boat is inappropriately named. I honestly didn't pick up on it myself! 

When we'd seen enough, we cycled back home to play with Jude's new toys and put him to bed. The innocent vrijmarkt outside our apartment was replaced by DJs, beer stands and people who had clearly been drinking all day long. The music stopped promptly at 8pm, a man fell off his scooter, a girl fight took place beneath our balcony, street sweeping trucks immediately went to work cleaning the ridiculous mess and our first Koningsdag came to an end! Can't wait for next year! 

Adopting new holidays has to be one of the best parts of living in a new country!